The Citylight Chandelier is, well, a gigantic chandelier, (or to be slightly more poetic, a trip to the light fantastic) made up of 136 cast bronze lights running on 25 metres of bronze arms. Inspired by midnight strolls amongst the flyovers of Shanghai, Studio Molen aims to capture the hallucinogenic effect of driving on the motorway at night by replacing any illicit substances with a distinctly legal anamorphic effect.

The anamorphic effect comes from the fact that although all the lights are based on the same mould, eighty were deliberately deformed to mirror the visual effect you see when looking at the lights on the motorway as you pass them by. Step by step, light by light, kilometre by kilometre, you’ll lose yourself in the chandelier. At least you don’t have to worry about crashing here.

To get ever so slightly technical: Citylight Chandelier consists of 300 Kg of bronze in total and was completely, 100%, handmade. The lampshades are distressed with black patina on the exterior and highly polished on the interior.

Citylight Chandelier will be on public display at Salone del Mobile for the first time ever. We had to remove a large chunk of the studio wall to bring it here (as well as use two cranes and three trucks) so if you’re there please go and have a look at it and tell us how nice it looks.

MolenKitchen is a fully portable 3 in 1 cooking machine: a barbecue, firebasket with spit and smoker in one. It gives a new meaning to the phrase ‘moveable feast.’ Initially conceived as part of a project to create something for a community (the ‘slaughterhouse’ neighbourhood of Zaandam, Holland), Studio Molen created something the whole area could share: a barbecue combining convenience, haute cuisine en haute design.

It moves like a wheelbarrow, and like a wheelbarrow it works horizontally and vertically – stand it up and it’s a smoker (complete with Transformer-style chimneys that turn from barrow handles to 2m long chimneys at the drop of a hat), stick it down and it’s a BBQ or spit. The unique ‘meat printing’ grill even allows you to brand every piece of meat (or vegetable – MolenKitchen is, of course, also vegetarian-friendly) with a custom designed imprint. Made from the highest quality stainless steel, MolenKitchen offers you your food, your way, whenever and wherever you want.

See more on MOLENKITCHEN.COM

Solid Poetry began, as with so many good things, on a walk. Susanne Happle saw some leaves blown off a wet pavement, leaving their imprint behind as they were swept away by the wind. This inspired her to create Solid Poetry together with Studio Molen. Technically Solid Poetry is a “smart material”, but really it’s a very straightforward idea: concrete that reveals a hidden pattern when it comes into contact with water. It can be used for large and small installations, from a bathroom to a plaza at the Design Academy in Eindhoven. The patterns can be customized as you wish for every application.

Studio Molen is currently working on designs for fountains and other public space objects, and a very exciting new project called Concrete Lab – a range of objects for the garden that will be shaped like laboratory objects. See, this is the sort of creativity you get when you live in a country where it rains all the time…

The Welcome Man is the star of a mural that adorns the wall of a homeless shelter in Amsterdam – the same place that you’ll find the Umbrella Table by the way. And the goal of the Welcome Man is to do exactly that: welcome all visitors and tell the inspiring story of the shelter around the building. The mural begins of course, with our hero (modelled on Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man) but with an upside down heart for a head and a huge heart at his core. He shoots arrows (keys) around the building that eventually bloom into flowers. It’s an intentionally overwhelmingly positive story that we hope will appeal to people of all ages and backgrounds. Hence as well as referencing Leonardo, the body of the Welcome Man is also made up of parts of Michelin Man, Mickey Mouse and Buddha. He’s everyone’s friend.

This project was the result of a close collaboration with architect Merijn de Jong from Heren 5. Studio Molen is always particularly happy to work together with architects, especially if the result is work as special as this.

This umbrella-table is an installation on the roof of a homeless shelter in Amsterdam. It’s inspired by a lot of things, including Mary Poppins, but it all boils down to the fact that the humble umbrella is often the first form of shelter for a homeless person. And just as importantly, when you’re under an umbrella, you enter your own world, a cocoon that cuts you off from the elements and everything else outside. It’s your space. Unless of course, you’re feeling more social and wish to let someone else in to share your umbrella – or in this particular instance, share some food on the table.

As simple as it might look, this shelter/picnic table was actually pretty hard to make. “Gigantifying” objects is a delicate matter of balancing proportion, colour and material, which is why the table is so vital in setting off the umbrella handle. All in all it’s an embodiment of Studio Molen’s modus operandi: making good stuff to inspire people that is honest from concept to material and from top to tail (or the tip of an umbrella).